As a direct consequence of the ‘Coronavirus’, TDR Quantity Surveying Services has had literally dozens of calls on Friday of last week and this week about ‘Force Majeure’ in Contracts and the extent to which contracts are being suspended etc.
We are in no doubt that most Contractors / Subcontractors are well on top of it, but our advice would be to be careful of Employers / Main Contractors attempting to seek your agreement on suspensions of work for periods of time. We believe you should consider seeking an instruction to cease working rather than reach an agreement to suspend. As you know Force Majeure is a ‘Neutral’ event in most cases. What that means to Contractors / Subcontractors, is that in the event a project is suspended for months on end, you will likely be entitled to an Extension of Time, but no compensation / loss & expense recovery. However, if you get an instruction, there is a far better chance of securing monies.